


Wildflowers

by Anonymous



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Genin Era, Genin Teams, M/M, Pre-Shippuden, match making
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:54:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29099139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Team Gai and Team Kakashi are sent on a mission together. The genin start to realise that if they combine Kakashi's laid back and lazy nature with Gai's over exuberance they might actually have a normal sensei, and thus a plot to get them together is hatched.
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Hatake Kakashi, Dai-nana-han | Team Seven & Gai-han | Team Gai (Naruto), Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy, Hyuuga Neji & Maito Gai | Might Guy & Rock Lee & Tenten
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10
Collections: Five Figure Fanwork Exchange 2020





	Wildflowers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hkandi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hkandi/gifts).



Naruto pictured planting his palms against the sun-warmed ground, he imagined the feel of the ball of his palm against the firm dirt, a perfectly straight line is made from his wrists up through his arms, his neck, his spine, and then his legs reaching up towards the of the sky. With the image of a perfect handstand and how it would feel clear in his mind, he threw himself into position, almost instantly crumpling onto the ground, his nose smashed against the dirt, the rest of his body falling down on top of his face. He rolled over onto his back before letting out a low whine.

“Saaaaasuke. How do you do it?”

Sasuke stood up from where he had been watching Naruto fall onto his face for the last twenty minutes, did a perfect handstand, held it for thirty seconds, just to prove he could, before flipping back into sitting position. He raised his eyebrows at Naruto, a silent challenge.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, scowling, “You must be using some trick.”

The right side of Sasuke’s lips pulled up into a smirk, “My trick is having basic balance.”

Naruto set his jaw and Sasuke felt his body tense, ready to spring into action if the blond decided to start a fight. Instead, Naruto began whining again, “Saaakuraaaa.”

Sasuke fought the quivering in his lips as his mouth threatened to pull up into a smile, asking Sakura to mediate was never going to be a good idea. 

She had been examining her nails under the tree, studiously pretending to not watch her teammates, “Sasuke’s right, you just suck.”

Naruto leapt to his feet in a huff, “I do not!”

Sakura stared calmly at him; Naruto stared back defiantly. Time seemed to stretch on forever, wrapping around them and winding its way back through the forest, around the largely abandoned Uchiha compound, and into the heart of the village. Naruto began to fidget. His wide blue eyes remaining on Sakura’s, unblinking but the rest of him couldn’t hold still, he shuffled his feet, started tapping his index fingers against his thumb in quick succession, it was like a vibration of energy was running through him, he started hopping from foot to foot the strain of standing still catching up to him but his eyes never drifted. 

“Ah!” Naruto exclaimed, throwing himself backwards so he was laying on the ground, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.

Sakura smiled, returning to her nails, she scrapped a flake of bubble gum pink nail polish off one of them.

“You know you gotta learn to deal with being still.” Sasuke reprimanded, “What happens if we end up on an ambush mission? Or we have to do reconnaissance? You’ll get us all killed.”

“Will not,” Naruto responded petulantly, sitting back up and crossing his arms, bottom lip stuck out in a pout. “Not like we’re going to be going on a mission anytime soon, what time is it anyway?” 

“About 1:30.” Sakura and Sasuke responded in unison after a quick glance at the sky.

Naruto turned to track the movement of the sun too, avoiding looking directly at it. He had no idea how they managed to do that, sure he knew it moved from one side of the sky to the other, but really, he could only use the sun’s position to say if it was night or day.

“So Kakashi is…” Naruto paused, taking the time to count the hours out on his fingers, “Two-no three hours late.”

“Three and a _half.”_ Sakura corrected.

“Maybe we should just leave,” Sasuke suggested.

“Remember the last time we did that?” Sakura chided.

The three of them had eventually given up on waiting for Kakashi, it had been a ridiculously hot day, the type of weather that makes one remember that everything, even flesh and blood, has a melting point. The ninja had appeared out of the trees when they’d gotten up to leave, telling them that a _real_ ninja was patient, after all, they may end up on missions that required months of slow and boring reconnaissance where nothing happens. Sasuke thought that Kakashi had been waiting in the trees the whole time for them to leave, Naruto thought he had just gotten there the moment they decided to leave, and Sakura refused to cast the deciding vote. 

“Maybe _we_ should show up four hours late to the next training session.” Naruto grumped. He stared at the ground for a second, leaning forward so his palms touched the ground, holding a downward dog position for a moment before he jumped upwards, thrusting his legs into the sky, for half a second he was _sure_ he looked as he had pictured, and then Naruto came crumpling back down to the ground, his ankle hitting Sasuke directly in the face.

“Naruto!” Sasuke screamed, launching himself into a nearby tree he pulled a kunai out of his bag.

Naruto quickly righted himself. He raced towards Sasuke, drawing his own weapon as he ran. Naruto ducked to the side to avoid the blade that was flying through the air towards his face. He yelped as something solid whacked him across the head with enough force to knock Naruto flat onto the ground.

“You idiots!” Sakura yelled, hovering over Naruto, “If Kakashi _is_ watching, do you think he’s going to come out if you’re fighting?”

Naruto sighed but he didn’t move, Sakura _did_ have a point… still Naruto couldn’t help but notice that she hadn’t whacked Sasuke over the head.

Naruto pushed himself up, sticking his lip out in a pout. Suddenly his sullen expression disappeared, a grin beginning to spread across his face, “Hey, remember when Kakashi first hid from us and pretended he wasn’t watching?”

Sakura and Sasuke both watched him, waiting for Naruto to continue his train of thought, usually there was no way to keep him from doing so, so it wasn’t long before the blond continued, “Remember what drew him out?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, catching onto what Naruto was getting at. “I’m not sharing my lunch with you again.”

Naruto stuck his bottom lip out, face returning to its previous pout.

Sakura sighed, “Maybe he did actually forget.”

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, his locks inexplicably returning to their unnatural-looking style afterwards. “He is a top-ranked shinobi, remembering every little detail is part of the job, but…” Sasuke trailed off, he didn’t need to list the myriad of ways Kakashi had not lived up to this expectation.

“We should pick a time we’re all willing to stay until,” Sakura said, showing a rare glimpse of practicality from the team.

Naruto shrugged, he didn’t have anyone waiting for him at home, and Sakura, and as much as he was loath to admit it, Sasuke, were two of his favourite people in the world.

Sasuke scowled, much the same thought crossing his mind, but he also wasn’t about to state that the forest with friends was more comfortable than an empty house.

Realising that neither of her teammates was placing any bets Sakura clicked her tongue, “I want him to feel bad that he _has_ forgotten us. We should stay until morning so when he goes to find us for our next training session-”

“-if,” Sasuke interjected.

“-he won’t be able to.”

“Sleepover!” Naruto cried.

“It only counts as a sleepover if you’re at someone’s house.” Sakura corrected him.

“We’re sleeping _over_ in the woods.” Naruto quibbled.

“That doesn’t even make sense.” Sakura squinted her eyes and half shook her head.

“I mean there’s all the elements of a sleepover,” Sasuke began, listing them on his fingers, “sleeping somewhere new, a group of friends-”

“The new place needs to be someone’s house!” Cried Sakura at the same time Naruto crowed, “Sasuke called us his friends!”

After a long time discussing the finer details of what counted as a sleepover, each member of Team Kakashi, apart from the aforementioned Kakashi, ending up with a different conclusion, the topic started to drift to what one might need to stay the night in the woods.

“We’ll need shelter,” Sakura said.

“Yeah! Or we’ll die of hypo-hypothumum.” Naruto agreed.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, “It’s late spring.”

“And you’re thinking of hyperthermia,” Sakura interjected.

“Hey, I was agreeing with you!” Naruto cried out.

Sakura shrugged, “We’ll need shelter in case it rains.”

All three of them turned to the sky, the brilliant blueness filtered through the great leafy branches above them.

“The weather can change at any minute.” Sakura asserted, remembering Iruka’s lessons on wilderness survival. Of course, that knowledge was meant to be for a mission, not just if your team leader couldn’t be arsed showing up.

* * *

Sakura blinked her eyes, slowly, sleepiness still had a hold of her bones and she wasn’t yet entirely in the world of the waking. Her sluggish brain finally managed to process the image that her eyes were sending her. A masked man hovering over her.

So, Sakura did what anyone who woke up in such a situation would do. 

She punched him as hard as she could. 

The man went flying backwards across the earth, and as he did so, her brain finished putting all of the information together. Masked man, equalled Kakashi. As in her sensei… who she had just punched. She stretched out; her neck felt oddly twisted from the way she’d been sleeping. She wasn’t quite sure how, but Sasuke, Naruto, and her had managed to work themselves into some contorted pile overnight, her right leg was currently stuck under Naruto’s still sleeping form. She shrugged and decided that Kakashi had probably deserved the punch even if she hadn’t actually meant to punch him specifically. 

Sasuke had also woken, jostled awake by Sakura’s sudden movement, he had apparently been using her stomach as a pillow while Naruto held him in a stranglehold. He wrapped his hand around Naruto’s wrist trying to pull the other boy's arm off him. Naruto’s grip just tightened around him so much that Sasuke briefly feared for his life. He shot a pleading look at Sakura, he wasn’t going to ask for help but, given his limited mobility, there wasn’t much else he could do to free himself of his sleeping team mate’s embrace.

Sakura rolled her eyes but took pity on Sasuke, “Oi, Naruto,” She said, elbowing the boy in the ribs.

Naruto let out a high a pitched wine but didn’t wake, instead, he rolled over with his arms still around Sasuke flipping the boy over with him.

“Get off me!” Sasuke yelled.

Sakura couldn’t help bursting into laughter, who knew that it would be a sleeping Naruto that bested Sasuke.

Sasuke brought his leg forward before kicking back, “Get off me!” He repeated.

Naruto finally awake, blinking wearily, muttered out a sleepy “What?” He then realised he was still clutching Sasuke and quickly let go of his teammate, shoving himself away and holding his nose up to the sky.

“It’s going to bruise.” The three turned around to see a sullen-looking Kakashi rubbing at his cheek. “Is that any way to great your sensei?” He asked.

“Yes,” Sakura said, in the time between punching Kakashi and him returning, she had become steadily surer that punching him had _definitely_ been the right course of action. “We were meant to meet here _yesterday._ ”

Kakashi paused for a second, “Today’s uh, Tuesday, right?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, “Today is Wednesday.”

“Just testing.” Kakashi responded, “We have a mission that we need to prepare for right now actually.”

The three of them perked up at the word _mission. Preparing_ for a mission meant that it wasn’t just wrangling a cat from a tree or picking potatoes, it meant they were actually going somewhere and doing something exciting.

“What mission?”

“Where?”

“Are we going with anyone else?”

“For how long?”

Kakashi just waved a hand at their questions, “You’ll find out soon enough.” And with that he took off, running through the trees, flying between the branches, his students following him as they raced back to the village, their impromptu night in the forest already starting to be forgotten.

* * *

The Hokage’s office was brimming with paperwork, as Kakashi and his team entered.

Tsunade looked up from a pile, offering a polite but tired smile on her face, “Sorry, I’m just trying to sort out everything left by the Third.” She gestured to a collection of chairs in front of her, “Sit, the others shouldn’t be too lon-“ 

A knock on the half-open door interrupted Tsundae’s sentence.

“Bushy brow sensei!” Naruto yelled delighted as Gai, along with Lee, Tenten, and Neji walked into the room.

“Great timing,” Tsunade said, gesturing towards the seats.

The six of them sat down.

“We’ve been receiving rumours from the Land of Plains,” She began. “News from there travels slowly and our villages aren’t exactly… friendly.”

Sakura nodded her head sagely, the rest of the genin stared on, completely unaware of the village and its relation to the Leaf. Sakura had always been the top of the class in written work and her understanding of history and political relations was well beyond the others.

“We made peace with their Kage, and while I don’t think we’ll ever be a close village the hatred between us had dissipated but there have been rumours that their Kage has died.”

“So, we’re to find out who the new Kage is?” Tenten asked.

“And if the rumours are true at all.”

“A reconnaissance mission,” Neji stated.

Tsunade nodded, “The trip takes several days either way but it’s vital to know if the Leaf has to prepare for sabotage. You’ll be fairly compensated for your time.”

Kakashi tilted forward, “Of course. Is there anyone we need to be worried about being Hokage?”

Tsunade sighed, “Unfortunately most of the town.” From beneath one of the stacks of paper she scooted out a thick manilla folder pushing it towards them, “As I said we don’t hear much from the Land of Plains so we’re not really sure who’s currently likely to be the successor if the Kage has died. That folder contains everything we know and who we’re most worried about but some of them might be dead at this point. If there is a successor and they aren’t on this list try to find out what sort of view, they have to foreign policy, especially regarding the Leaf. Don’t blow your cover though, the last thing we need is for them to know we’re sending over Leaf Shinobi to spy on them.”

Gai shot her, a thumbs up, “Don’t worry Tsundae, we’ll make sure to return with all the relevant information and no one will be the wiser.”

Tsunade moved a folder slightly to the left on her desk, disrupting a neat pile of papers which collapsed to the ground in a flutter, she sighed irritably at the mess but Lee sprung to his feet and immediately began to put them back in order. The Hokage pulled out the sheet of paper she had been searching for, “All the supplies you need have been paid for but you’ll need to collect them before you leave tomorrow, that should give you time to spend with your-“ Tsundae hesitated for half a second, “-loved ones.”

* * *

“She was totally going to say family before she changed to love ones.” Sasuke snorted once they had left the Hokage’s building.

“Huh?” Naruto asked, and then as his brain caught up with Sasuke’s words added, “Oh yeah.”

“Well not _all_ of us are orphans,” Sakura sniffed.

“Yeah, you,” Neji responded dryly.

“Really?” Sakura paused, as she looked at the rest of the group; the six genin had been sent to collect a long list of supplies while Gai and Kakashi went to collect the others.

Tenten shrugged, “I mean my Aunts are basically my parents, they’ve raised me since I was a baby but…”

“I guess that still counts as _family_ though,” Sakura said.

“Family and loved ones don’t always work as synonyms,” Neji said coldly.

Naruto shook the list in his hands, “Oh food supplies! Apparently, Maruyu has some for us we can go see if they have anything good!” He distracted the group from the conversation that was growing ever more macabre, hoping to forge at least a few happy memories on this trip.

* * *

Naruto rolled over again, staring at the ceiling. He was grateful for his apartment. It could be so much worse; it _had_ been so much worse… but still. Sometimes it felt like the walls were closing in around him. The entire building was mostly empty, something he hoped hadn’t been due to him. He wondered what the place had been like before the jinchuriki of the village moved in. The building was a bit to the outskirts of town and not the nicest area but maybe there would have been more families, more people near him.

He sighed, tomorrow would be fun though, the start of a journey with his team. _And_ Gai’s team.

Suddenly all the muscles in Naruto’s body tensed, the hairs on his arms stood up. It took half a second for his mind to realise what he’d heard that had caused that reaction. 

Footsteps were heading towards his door. Footsteps in a building that Naruto had just been lamenting for its emptiness.

Naruto crawled out of bed, grabbing one of his kunai off the ground - he took a moment to make a mental note to tell this story to Iruka as a reason that tidying his room was a bad idea and could actually cost him his life - before heading towards the door, pressing his back to the wall the whole way.

A soft knock echoed on the door.

Naruto froze. _Did murders usually knock?_

He wanted to just open the door and go for it, see if the intruder thought he could screw with Naruto Uzumaki. 

…but everyone was always saying that he needed to work more on strategy. But what _was_ the best strategy?

The footsteps started again but this time they were heading away from the door, obviously taking the lack of response as a sign he wasn’t here. _Surely_ the person on the other side of the door couldn’t mean any harm then. Naruto made a dash to the door, thrusting it open, “Wait!”

Sasuke turned around to see Naruto standing in the doorway one hand holding a kunai and pointing it directly at him.

Naruto followed his gaze to the weapon in his hand, before lowering it stiffly, “I didn’t know it was you.”

“Obviously,” Sasuke said as if the pair didn’t end up throwing the blades at one another every other day.

“What are you doing here?” Naruto finally asked the obvious.

Sasuke shrugged, not meeting Naruto’s gaze. He wasn’t going to admit that Naruto was his friend and that returning to the empty Uchiha compound even for just one night had felt unbearable that day. “Your house is so much closer to where we’re meeting tomorrow.”

Naruto stared at him for a second, taking in everything unsaid before stepping back and holding the door open. “Sorry about the mess.” He said as Sasuke walked into his apartment. It felt weird being embarrassed about it, but suddenly Naruto was starting to see things from an outsider’s perspective. A pile of empty packets of instant ramen on the bench, dirty socks strewn across the floor, a few cups and bowls on the floor, and more in the sink

Sasuke just shrugged, “It’s nice.” After… it… had happened, Sasuke had packed everything up in boxes and shoved them in his parents’ room. He didn’t go into that room, or his brother’s, for that matter. The rest of his house was stark, only holding what he needed, he liked to spend as little time as possible there anyway, preferring to be training by the lake or in the deep of the redwoods.

“Do you uh, want anything? To like eat or drink?” Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. He felt weirdly awkward with Sasuke here, his house felt so separate from the life he was so desperately trying to forge. Apart from the Third and Iruka, he had never invited anyone else in.

Sasuke gazed at the kitchen dubiously, “Some water would be great?”

Naruto nodded, almost stumbling over his feet in his rush to get some water. He shot thoughts of gratitude to Iruka who had admonished him for not cleaning his dishes only a few days before which meant he still had some clean glasses. He took one to the sink and filled it, handing it to Sasuke.

“Thanks,” Sasuke said.

They stood in awkward silence for a moment, Sasuke took a sip from his glass.

“So, do you know any card games?” Naruto asked.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow sceptically, “Do you have any cards?”

Naruto rolled his eyes, “Of course I do…” He trailed off looking around his apartment, “…somewhere

As luck would have it, it only took Naruto about ten minutes to find his pack of cards.

“Know how to play canasta?” Sasuke asked.

“No,” Naruto replied, “Poker?”

“No, rummy?”

“Nah, German whist?”

“Nope, hearts?”

“No, jass?”

Sasuke hesitated for a moment, trying to think of something in which they’d have common ground, he pursed his lips, “Go Fish?”

“Yes!” Naruto exclaimed, beginning to shuffle the cards.

* * *

Sasuke held back a groan as he woke up to the beeping of an alarm. He _knew_ he should have called it quits earlier but Naruto was eerily good at Go Fish and there was no way Sasuke was conceding without having won _a single_ game. He was regretting it now though, even with the incessant beating of the alarm he could already feel himself melting back into the pillow. This along with the previous night sleeping on the forest floor was adding up to making him very tired

Naruto stretched out, his hand coming into contact with Sasuke’s hand and he realised he hadn’t dreamed the night before, “Huh, you’re here.” He said dumbly.

Sasuke let out a low hum, too tired to make any more coherent sound.

“We gotta get up or we’ll be late,” Naruto said, not making any effort to do so.

Sasuke hummed again.

“No, we like, really do.”

Sasuke let out a sigh and with monumental effort pushed himself into an upright position, “At least we’re not too far.”

“Yeah,” Naruto agreed, sure his apartment was towards the edge of town but it was nowhere near as far as the Uchiha compound was.

Sasuke sighed gently pushing Naruto, who was still lying down, “Come on dobe, we’ve got a mission.”

“Hey!” Naruto jerked upright, indignant, “Who are you calling a dobe?”

“You, you dobe.” Sasuke didn’t even bother to look at Naruto as he stood up, stretching skywards and leaning backwards.

“Could a dobe beat you _eighteen_ times in Go Fish?” Naruto asked.

Sasuke sniffed, “I was off my game.”

“Suuuuuuure.” Naruto grabbed his kettle, filling it up at the sink. “Coffee?” Naruto asked.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, he was pretty sure of all the things his blond teammate needed it wasn’t coffee. “Tea?”

Naruto nodded, changing the cupboard he’d been reaching for. “So what weapons are you bringing with you?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, “It’s a reconnaissance mission.”

“Yeah but if it turns out that the bad guy has become Kage and we have to fight h-“

“You mean bring information back to the Hokage.”

There was a moment of silence.

“I’m just bringing some kunai; I prefer to use jitsu anyway,” Sasuke said.

“Same.” Naruto handed Sasuke a mug of tea, “I’m sure Tenten’s going to bring some super cool stuff though.

Sasuke sipped his tea, “Probably, it’s a long way to carry everything though.”

* * *

Tenten’s bag bulged behind her, Sasuke squinted his eyes at her, he’d picked up the bag for a brief second, sure that it must have been just bulky yet light equipment considering how _easily_ Tenten moved with it but holding it, however briefly, had been a momentous task.

Kakashi had heaved a sigh at the pack, “You know it’s a long journey, right?” He had directed the question at Gai.

Gai beamed, “Exactly, my dearest rival! The perfect time to train.” Gai had bent over to roll up one leg of his green spandex suit, “All of us have added extra weights to our ankle bands! Team Gai takes every opportunity to improve itself!”

Lee had nodded solemnly in agreement while Neji and Tenten just looked in embarrassed but Sasuke noted that they two had the tell-tale bulges around their ankles as well.

Ankle weights were a rudimentary training tool, he’d heard of their use before but it was pretty uncommon nowadays, besides the extra strength only really helped with taijutsu, which Sasuke considered to be vastly inferior to genjutsu or even ninjutsu.

Still, the memory of Lee’s fist on his face smarts. And even Sasuke can appreciate the power that Lee had gained through the simple tools.

A sharp elbow dug into Sasuke’s side, he grabbed his dagger from his belt, turning to snarl at Naruto, “What do you want?”

Naruto’s blue eyes widened for a moment, before he rolled them, “Chill out.” He jerked his head towards Gai, “Do you reckon we could get some of those ankle weights?”

Sasuke scowled, he couldn’t believe that the dunce of the group had been thinking the same thing he had. “If there were spares, he’d have to be carrying them.” Sasuke tried to do the mental maths, the weights Gai had tied to himself and the necessary provisions, surely, he couldn’t have brought _spare_ weights? But also, everything Sasuke had learnt about Gai suggested that bringing spare weights was _exactly_ what he’d do. 

“I’m going to go ask him!” Naruto jogged forward a few steps to catch up with Gai.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something. Then closed it. 

“Gai Sensei!” He heard the friendly greeting before their chatter became too soft for Sasuke to pick out from his position in the group. Naruto stopped talking for a moment, gestured to Sasuke, and then waved for him to come over. Sasuke felt his face grow hot, he hated to admit that he might want to use something so trivial to improve himself. But still, if it helped him to defeat Itachi…

“Sakura!” Naruto called, “Do you want some weights too?”

Sakura turned from the conversation she’d been having with Tenten to face Naruto, she paused for half a second before nodding and jogging over.

Kakashi who had silently been walking next to the gathering group sighed, “Just how much weight are you carrying, Gai?”

Gai flashed him his customary light-up grin, “Got to keep sharp if I want to remain as leader of our rivalry.”

Kakashi set his jaw, “Only by one point.”

* * *

It was that point in the night where time felt meaningless, where your body is on the brink of exhaustion but also feels like it's buzzing with electricity. Words said at this time are different from words said during the day, secrets swallowed deep down inside you come bubbling up your throat and into the air as though the night air itself is some sort of truth serum.

“Truth or dare,” Sasuke asked as the spinning bottle landed facing Naruto. After all, this time of night was the perfect time to play such a game, even if Gai and Kakashi had warned them of an early morning start.

“Truth.”

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, he hadn’t been expecting that from Naruto, he took a moment to redirect his train of thought from having underwear-clad Naruto clones dispersed around the forest. “Okay, what was your problem with me at the academy?”

Naruto garufed, “I didn’t have a problem with you.”

Sakura snorted, “Are you kidding?”

Gai’s team watched, it was clear that Sasuke and Naruto had… an interesting friendship but they hadn’t been privy to the two’s academy interactions.

Naruto rolled his eyes, “You were just, you were just so good.” The traitorous words slunk out of his mouth, “And everyone loved you so much, and,” Naruto paused to sigh, “everyone hated me, I thought if I could beat you everyone would like me.”

Sasuke leaned across the circle, affectionately ruffling Naruto’s hair, and then, because he couldn’t actually be nice to his teammate for more than fifteen seconds, gave him a rough noogie. “Good luck ever beating me.”

“Your go Naruto!” Tenten chimed in before the two could burst into a fight, she’d thought Team Gai was weird, what with all of Gai’s crying, but at least the fights were _largely_ kept to just training.

The bottle spun around, slowing, slowing, slowing, and finally settling on Lee. “So, do you still like Sakura?”

Lee’s face became bright red and he mumbled something about the eternal beauty of flowers before hurriedly spinning the bottle onwards. 

The bottle landed on Tenten, “Dare.” 

Four felled trees, one very unimpressed Kakashi, one very impressed Gai, and the six of them were snuggled back into their sleeping bag.

“You ever think about how Gai and Kakashi put together would like, have the personality of a normal human person?” Tenten whispered.

“Huh,” Sasuke mused, it was odd to think that there would be any possibility of normalcy existing anywhere near the names “Gai” and “Kakashi,” but he imagined Gai’s over-enthusiastic presence being tempered down by Kakashi-the-world-must-be-on-fire-in-order-for-me-to-bat-an-eye attitude, and Kakashi being bolstered by the genuine excitement for life that seemed to leak out of Gai.

“Maybe they’d be more normal if they were like together,” Sakura suggested.

“Like dating?” Neji asked.

“Yeah,” Sakura confirmed.

“Mmm.” 

The six of them laid in silence for a grand total of six seconds, basically an eternity for a group of twelve-year old’s up past their bedtime, before erupting into chatter.

“That’s such a great idea!”

“Omg, they’d be such a great couple.” 

“I’m sure Gai would get Kakashi to show up on time at least _sometimes.”_

“Kakashi could probably help Gai chill out.”

“It’s important that Kakashi also understands the power of youth!”

“Do you reckon we could get them together?”

That brought about another round of brief silence.

“We can give it a shot,” Neji ventured.

“Okay, how are we going to go about this?” Sakura asked.

Tenten rustled in her bag and pulled out a blank scroll, “Hey L-“

Before she could finish her question, Lee was throwing a pen and a small bottle of ink her way.

* * *

The six of them mulled around the tiled area. The reception desk was on the other end of the room, a spectacled lady behind the counter was chatting to another customer. Naruto had loudly proclaimed that he didn’t mind camping as they had walked into the hotel, Sasuke had simply rolled his eyes and told him that _some people_ actually showered.

“You're the famous Uchiha,” Neji spat out the word _Uchiha_ like it was dirt, Sasuke narrowed his eyes, bristling at the insult, “Why don’t you ask?”

“Fine!” Sasuke snapped in a hushed whisper, “I will!”

“Whoa,” Sakura stepped in front of Sasuke, blocking him from heading to the front desk of the lodging. “Maybe we could have someone a little more…” Sakura hesitated trying to find the right word, “Personable.”

“Well, that rules you out.” Neji snorted.

Sakura narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth, Naruto knowing the signs that all hell was going to break out all too well, quickly diverted the scene, “What about Tenten?”

“Too many knives.” Neji, Tenten, Sakura, Lee, and Sasuke, all said in unison. At least there was _something_ they could agree on.

Naruto’s suggestion though had one merit; it had drawn everyone’s attention to him. _Short, far too dumb for people to consider he was scheming, had an adorable frog wallet for god’s sake, who would suspect this kid of anything?_ And so, without further ado, he was thrust forward towards the desk.

The elderly lady raised her eyebrows, peeking out at him through comically small spectacles, her dark greying hair was pulled into an impeccable bun. “How can I help you, deary?”

“Um, well you see…” Naruto twirled his two pointer fingers around each other in quick circular moments, as he arranged the cacophony of words in his head into a presentable order, “There was a bit of a mix up you see; with the rooms.”

“Oh?” The lady inquired.

“Yeah,” Naruto said, gathering steam, “Must have misheard or something, but the two old guys, you know Kakashi Sensei, funny looking one with the mask and the weird hair, and Gai Sensei, he’s the one with the eyebrows,” Naruto drew his index fingers over his own two eyebrows, “well they were meant to get a room with only _one_ bed.”

“I see,” the lady opened up a book on the desk, running her finger along the page. “Oh, there’s been no mix-up dear,” she told Naruto, “They’re already in a room with just the one bed.”

“Oh, uh,” Naruto awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, flashing her a bright grin, “My bad! Thanks so much.”

He ran back to the group of genin who were sprawled around the living room pretending to look occupied. Sasuke was glaring at a piece of artwork pretending to appreciate the artistry of the scene, a boat being carelessly tossed by wild waves. Lee and Neji both held up magazines, Neji’s was upside down. Sakura was picking dirt out from under her fingernails, they were painted the same shade of pink as her hair, to hide the fact that there was dirt under them, and Tenten was sharpening one of her knives.

“Well, how’d it go?” Sakura whispered as the group dropped their pretences and rushed towards him.

Naruto opened his mouth, revelling being the centre of attention, “-

Sasuke shook his head, pointing towards the door. The group quickly ran outside, once out of the view of the receptionist, they turned their attention back to Naruto.

“They already have a room with only one bed!” He yelled.

“What?” Sakura asked.

Lee rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment, “This mission must be even more underfunded than we thought.”

“Really, it’s a shame how little money the Leaf puts towards reconnaissance missions.” Neji agreed.

“You only say that because you suck at fighting,” Sasuke muttered under his breath.

“Excuse me?” Neji said, taking a step towards Sasuke.

“Oh, come on, the Ninja who can’t even do ninjitsu beat you yesterday.”

“Hey!” Lee interjected but his protest was cut off by Neji’s retort.

“Well, the class dunce beat _you._ ”

“Oi!” Naruto yelled, and as he said that the yard began to fill with Naruto’s clones, they ran towards Neji, swarming him.

Lee zapped away lightning quick, so fast that the genin could only see a flash of green, Sasuke only made out Lee’s figure as his fist connected with his face. 

The air filled with electricity, stunning the genin to a halt, shadow clones disappeared into thin air. As the electricity began to subside the genin looked anywhere but its source. 

Kakashi stood silently, watching them, his solitary unmasked eyebrow raised. Gai stood beside him, arms folded across his chest “ _not angry just disappointed”_ written across the mournful furrow of his brow.

“What happened?” Gai asked.

“Sasuke and Neji were being dicks.” Tenten said sheathing the kunai she was holding.

“Fighting is for training _only._ ” Kakashi’s voice was deadly quiet. “Need I remind you what the goal of this mission is.”

The six genin stared at the ground.

“And what might one important factor of that goal be?” Gai asked.

“Stealth,” Neji mumbled, kicking at the dirt.

“Do you think that starting a brawl in the middle of the day counts as _stealth?”_ Kakashi asked.

“No.” The kids answered reluctantly.

“We get to the Land of Plains in two days, by then you better have learnt how to control yourself.”

* * *

Naruto lay on his back rubbing his belly, it was full of ramen. The ramen here wasn’t as good as Ichiraku’s but that didn’t stop it from being delicious. The genin were all sprawled in the shade of a tree, enjoying the respite from the heat of the day before they had to continue their travels. The grass green that only came after long months of rainfall, it grew in thick waves that made it almost as comfortable as a mattress to lay on.

Lee was perched in the tree, rather than on the ground with his comrades, surveying the surrounding area. “I was thinking…” He began.

“Hmm?” Tenten prompted him at the same time Neji muttered, “That’s rare.”

Lee chose to ignore Neji’s remark, “This is a stealth mission, yeah?” He didn’t wait for an answer before continuing, “So it would make sense if we had cover stories.”

Naruto launched upright at that, “Yeah!” He declared, “My name is Captain Blackbeard,” He launched into a pirate accent, “I am a great pirate, but it has been many years since I walked on land, I once had great swordsman skills,” He pulled an imaginary sword from a sheath on his waistband, “but the stillness of earth after being at sea for so long as thrown off my balance,” Naruto stumbled forward dramatically, “but I must get used to it if I am to seek my revenge on the man who stole my lover.”

There was a beat of silence, and then another, and another

“So, I was thinking more about something that might help us with Mission Kakagai.”

“Oh,” Naruto paused, “Well I’m sure Captain Blackbeard could come in handy.”

“Maybe something where Gai Sensei and Kakashi Sensei are in a relationship,” Sakura said, trying to steer Naruto in the right direction.

“And their son is a pirate known as-“

“Shut up, Naruto.” Sasuke snapped.

“You’re just jealous I came up with him first!” Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke.

“They could be two royal princes running away from duty together,” Lee suggested, love hearts nearly floating in his eyes.

Sakura rolled her eyes, “We’re meant to fly below the radar.” She reminded him.

“Oh, maybe they could be two farmers, from opposing farms then, and they’ve run off together because they want to grow _both_ beets _and_ turnips.”

“I um, don’t think we necessarily need to have the star-crossed lover’s theme, Lee,” Tenten interjected.

“Do you think they would play better as old or new partners?” Sasuke asked.

“Well, they do know each other very well.” Neji ventured.

“Friends for years and have just fallen in love?” Sakura suggested.

“It is what we want to happen after all.” Neji nodded sagely.

“Pirate friends,” Naruto interjected.

“Enough about pirates-“ Sakura began.

“Actually, pirates might work well,” Lee interjected. “We want to be stealth, having covers that people wouldn’t be able to know enough about to question is important, and the Land of Plains is pretty far from the ocean.” 

* * *

“Alright, we’re only half a day’s travel from the village,” Kakashi said. 

“So, it’s time we talk about disguises!” Gai whirled around, he had been standing with his back to the genin but now on his face was a pair of thick-rimmed glasses, they made his eyes seem so large that they appeared to float off his face.

Neji let out a snort.

“Do you have more?” Naruto and Lee cried out, ready to replicate Gai’s look to avoid the enemy’s watchful gaze.

“We’d actually had some ideas about disguises,” Sakura said, elbowing Naruto in the ribs, the blond let out a sharp yelp.

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Lee agreed, remembering himself.

The rest of the genin also nodded vigorously.

“We can’t exactly walk in as Leaf shinobi.” Neji deadpanned.

“So, we’ll need,” Sasuke paused, “backstories.” He drew out the word as though saying it physically pained him.

“Aren’t our students the smartest?” Gai asked Kakashi in a delighted tone before turning back to the group, “That’s a fantastic idea!”

“Kakashi can be a lonesome warrior, looking for a quiet place to retir-“ Gai began, sounding as enthusiastic as Naruto did when talking about Captain Blackbeard.

“Who is married to a baker.” Tenten quickly interjected, knowing that Gai would have concocted an entire story which negated their whole plan were she not to speak up.

“Oh,” Gai paused, “Yes, it makes sense to have family outside of us.”

“They mean you Gai,” Kakashi said.

A brilliant grin crossed across Gai’s face as his cheeks became a bright hue of pink, “Well what do you say, Kakashi, wanna be my husband?” 

Kakashi looked skyward for a moment, but he held his hand out to Gai who clasped it in return, intertwining their fingers. The two of them stood there, hand in hand as they discussed the rest of their disguises.

* * *

Naruto ran down the street, his feet sliding across the cobbled yard; as he turned a corner his trajectory was rapidly cut short as he catapulted himself into Gai. He may as well have run into a brick wall considering the lack of give in the man.

Gai turned around, trademark grin on his face, “There you are.”

Naruto blinked once, it took a moment to remember what the rush to get here had been, it felt as though the thought had been knocked clean out of his head in the collision. “I’ve got something to tell you!” Naruto stage whispered.

The group of genin gathered into a small circle in the street, causing havoc with the rest of the foot traffic. Kakashi cleared his throat, jerking his head towards a nearby park, “Might be a little more inconspicuous…” He suggested.

The group relocated themselves into the park, sheltered by the leaves of a large cottonwood tree, the drooping branches were covered in white fluff making the tree look as though it had just been through a heavy snowstorm.

“I was by the food trucks, and this old lady was talking about how sad she was,” Naruto began, pausing for dramatic effect, scanning the group to make sure that he had everyone’s rapt attention, “sad because the Kage is dead!” Naruto declared, exuberant at his sleuthing.

Everyone stared at him, blank expressions on their faces. Naruto grinned broadly, folding his arms across his chest, obviously they hadn’t expected him to make such rapid progress on the mission, but it was this tenacious spirit that would make him Hokage one day. _Believe it._

Kakashi sighed, the noise-making its way out from deep within him, he then pointed to the banners lining the streets, each one not more than a handful of metres from the last, a picture of an elderly woman with the line _“Our beloved Kage, may her spirit live on.”_

Naruto pursed both his lips, hesitating for a moment, “Oh.”

Tenten reached over to ruffle his hair, “It’s okay I’m sure you’ll be able to help figure out who’s replacing her.”

* * *

They entered the restaurant, the blast from the fan was an instant relief from the stifling heat outside. Kakashi practically melted into the new temperature

A waiter hurried up to them, a pleasant smile on her face, “Good evening,” She greeted, “Welcome to Ichiban, how may I help you?”

Lee coughed loudly. The waiter blinked at him, he coughed again, Naruto thumped him on the back enthusiastically, so much so that, if Lee had not had as strong a stance as he did, he probably would have gone flying forward.

“Oh,” The waitress said, her smile remaining in place, “I am so sorry but we are almost fully booked,” She directed this at Gai and Kakashi, “We only have room for two more.”

“Um…” Kakashi said, even with one eye he could quite clearly see the many empty tables.

“All later bookings.” The waitress said.

“Thank you,” Gai said, “We shall find another-”

“No!” Tenten yelled.

There was a brief moment of silence, both Kakashi and Gai raising their eyebrows at the outburst.

Tenten hurried to fill in the silence that she had created, “It’s just that we had heard such good things about this place, and you two shouldn’t have to miss out.”

Kakashi stared at her, “We’ll be in this town for quite some time I’m sure we could come back-”

Neji shook his head forcefully, “It is fine, we will find our own place to dine. You two should stay here.” 

Kakashi shrugged, it was abundantly clear that they were up to something but if that something was allowing him to stay in a blessedly cool restaurant with reportedly fantastic stir fry, who was he to argue?

A tray of food was carried past by another waiter, plates of sushi, stir fry, and skewers, whisked past them. Naruto watched with wide eyes, “Maybe there’s actually room for three?” He asked hopefully.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto’s collar and began dragging him to the doorway. Team Gai followed them out.

“Have a nice night!” Sakura called out to Gai and Kakashi before following the rest of the genin out.

“Can you not think about your stomach for one moment?” Sasuke growled at Naruto once they were out of earshot.

Naruto sighed, “It just looked so good.”

Neji rolled his eyes, “Which is exactly why we wanted them there.” The six of them had managed to convince the waiter to say that the place was booked out for all but two people, claiming that the wearisome baker and his husband needed a night off from looking after their various adopted children.

Sakura smiled, “What better place to realise you are in love with your best friend than a fancy restaurant?”

“So, do you think this will be it?” Neji asked. 

Every attempt they had made had seemed to have no effect on the two; their interactions with one another remained the same: comfortable and friendly.

“I don’t think they’d tell us,” Sasuke said.

Lee nodded, “Sensei Gai and Kakashi may not wish to immediately share their intimate feelings with their students.”

“Are you kidding?” Sakura interjected, “Gai has zero filter.”

“I think he just seems that way.” Tenten offered.

Neji nodded in agreement, “We thought Kakashi and him were sworn enemies rather than friends for like two years.”

“Yeah, I nearly lost it when Gai said Kakashi was his _beloved rival_ ,” Tenten responded.

* * *

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. In an effort to avoid throngs of fans he’d developed the uncanny ability to hide anywhere; he maintains that the most useful thing he learnt in the academy was taught to him by the hordes of pre-teen girls rather than Iruka.

Naruto, unfortunately, had also developed this skill; less due to fangirls and more due to various angry adults.

The two sat in un-companionable silence in the rafters of the now-deceased Kage’s office. Both having had the exact same idea on what would be the best approach to gathering information about the Kage’s successor.

Which had been fine to start with.

The Kage’s office looked like a bombshell had hit it. Sheets of paper scattered across not only the desk but the floor, several chairs were obscured due to the piles of papers covering them; various documents stamped _CONFIDENTIAL_ lay in easy access, their content only protected as no pages seemed to be stuck together, instead scrolls and sheets of paper were thrown across the entire room in what appeared to be an entirely haphazard fashion.

Sasuke had gritted his teeth, refusing to acknowledge out loud that he was grateful that Naruto had accompanied him. There was no way he could even begin to make any headway by himself in this mess.

“Hey, do you think this might help?” Sasuke turned around, the blond wasn’t visible but then some papers swayed dramatically before collapsing onto the ground as Naruto stood up.

Sasuke squinted at the paper. It appeared to be a shopping list.

Murmurs floated their way down the hallway and Sasuke’s eyes shot open, he met Naruto’s equally wide eyes and the pair of them darted upwards. The building had wide wooden rafters and they had crammed themselves into the shadowy corner as three men and one woman had entered the office. If one of them decided to look up their cover would be blown instantly.

The woman let out a sigh, “Lady Kigiku was never one for cleaning but I didn’t know she had let things get this bad.”

One of the men, short and bearded, grunted in agreement reaching for the closest piece of paper and examining it, “We can’t throw anything out until we know what’s important.” He placed the paperback where he had found it.

“Can’t we just leave this for the next Kage?” A man with startlingly blond hair whined.

The woman shook her head, “The new Kage will be busy enough.”

The final man, an imposingly tall and wide man who had barely managed to cram himself into the chaos-filled room, let out a sarcastic laugh, “Busy with war preparations.”

Sasuke’s muscles tensed, he needed to get this message to Kakashi, and by extension Lady Tsunade, as soon as possible, but for now all they could do was stay still.

“We haven’t decided it will be Itsuki yet.” The blond man replied.

“Hiroto is also a strong contender for the position.”

“So do the people want a warmonger or a coward?” The large man asked rhetorically.

“Careful, you say that in a week’s time and it’ll be considered treason.” The bearded man cautioned.

“Besides,” The woman added, “Having a peaceful leader brought the Plains into prosperity once more.”

“No question about who your choice is then.” The blond responded.

“I just don’t think there’s any point going to war-“ The woman began.

“To avenge our forefather’s d-“ The bearded man jumped in.

“More killing’s not going to solve anything.” The large man cut the argument off before it could begin. “But we need someone who wouldn’t be afraid of war if it came to it, I fear Hiroto would hand the Plains over on a silver platter should he ever be asked.”

“So why didn’t you throw your hat in?” The bearded man asked.

The large man let out another bark of laughter, the sound devoid of the usual joy that accompanies laughter, “And deal with all of this?” He gestured at the piles of paperwork. A grin started forming on his face, “You know I think I’ve made my decision.”

The blond raised his eyebrows, prompting the other man to go on.

“If Hiroto becomes Kage he’d be far too cowardly to expect the Council of Five to file his paperwork.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, one of the Council must be missing.

“That makes two to one, with two undecided.” The woman stated.

The bearded man glared at the tall man, “You can’t base your decision on some _paperwork.”_ He spat, bits of phlegm flying out of his mouth, visibly landing in his beard.

The tall man shrugged, “I don’t believe cowards should become Kage but I also don’t believe that starting a war now will lead to anything but further hardship.” He paused, swivelling his head from one side of the room to the other, “Besides this isn’t just _some._ When the Council chooses to meet to cast their votes I will be there, but for now.” He nodded his head solemnly before leaving the room, the space seeming to open up as the hulk of his body left the space.

The group stood there in silence for a moment.

“Well, I’m not staying if he’s not!” The bearded man yelled and stomped out of the room, piles of paper collapsing to the floor as his stomps shook the ground.

The blond man simply shrugged at the woman before holding the door open for her.

She sighed, “Hopefully when the Kage has been decided on there will be less fighting.”

* * *

There was not much that could be done while they waited for the Council to make their decision. Hiroto hadn’t been listed in the dossier they had been given; Itsuki was, but the few succinct sentences had offered no information that hadn’t been gleaned from Naruto and Sasuke’s unplanned eavesdropping. They always made sure that at least half the members of the Council of Five were being watched, least a meeting be called and a decision made without their knowledge but this still left a lot of downtime.

“Gai Sensei,” Lee began, Team Seven were currently covering the spying, leaving Team Gai with a beautiful summer afternoon stretching out before them.

“Yes Lee?” Gai asked.

“I was thinking, it has been so great working with Team Kakashi, we should thank Kakashi Sensei.”

“Hmm?” Gai prompted him to go on.

“Maybe we should all head to the hills, there were some beautiful flowers, we could collect some for you to give to him.”

Neji sighed, closing the book he had been reading, he had to give it to Lee, it wasn’t a bad idea, but he’d been planning to enjoy some peace and quiet for a change.

Tenten was more enthusiastic about the idea, “Oh that sounds great! The hills are far enough away from the town that I can practice these new scrolls I’ve been thinking about.”

Neji stared wistfully at his book for a moment, before mentally conceding to the fact he was going to spend the afternoon traipsing through the hills rather than reading.

* * *

Once they did make it to the hills, Neji did have to admit that it was beautiful. The grass was up to his knees and swayed in the winds, it looked as though the ocean had become green. The area was dotted with wildflowers that made the hills look like someone had flicked a paintbrush at them; light pink wax flowers grew in their tight-knit clumps, purple lupins arched up towards the sky peeking out through the grass, and all manner of buttercups, and daisies filled in the gaps between them.

Tenten sat cross-legged in the grass, almost disappearing in it as she dug through her bag for a collection of scrolls. Neji watched for a moment before deciding it was best to give Tenten a wide birth. When his teammate was working with new scrolls, they could be unpredictable, and unpredictable translated pretty directly to knives flying at his face. Neji walked over to where Gai and Lee were.

“What flowers do you think Kakashi sensei would like?” Lee asked, crouching down to examine a purple lupin.

“Those are nice,” Neji said. Flowers were just… well flowers. By token of their existence, they were nice, so he was pretty sure that, unless they managed to pick something poisonous, it was all the same.

“But are they as nice as those?” Lee pointed dramatically at some yellow buttercups, their bright faces forming little trumpets.

“Young Lee,” Gai boomed, “A truly great bouquet is not comprised of only one flower.”

Neji closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, ready for picking flowers to become yet another training exercise.

“Instead,” Gai continued, “A bouquet should be composed of several different flowers, and in doing so the bunch will become greater than the sum of its part, like a great Ninja team.”

Lee nodded solemnly, absolutely enraptured with Gai’s every word.

“Think of the Legendary Sannin, each of them powerful in their own right, but together they became an unstoppable force.” Here Gai’s face broke into a smile, tears welling in his eyes, “I hope that you will all become such a force together.”

“Of course, we will Sensei!” Lee declared and threw himself towards Neji, arms open for a hug.

Neji returned the hug, even keeping his sighing about the whole situation to a minimum.

Lee turned to where Tenten was now standing, a collection of what appeared to be spiked axes surrounding her. “We’ll make a beautiful bouquet!” He shouted towards her; Tenten gave him a thumbs up, oblivious to the metaphor.

“Let’s, uh, get onto the actual bouquet making,” Neji was hopeful that they could get this over with quickly enough that he would have time to actually read at least _some_ of his book. 

Lee plucked a tall lupin flower and held the brilliant purple up against the sky. “I think this should be our main flower.”

“Accented with daises.” Gai nodded seriously.

“Buttercups would add some brightness,” Neji found himself saying.

The three of them set about gathering flowers, every now and again pausing to ask Tenten what she thought of the arrangements as she scribbled on her scrolls.

* * *

Kakashi stretched his arms above his head, his shoulder and elbow joints cracking at the strain, as he walked into the apartment they were renting.

Gai squinted his eyes, “Kakashi maybe you should join me in my morning yoga.”

“You know what they say, couples that stretch together, stay together.” Tenten grinned.

Kakashi stared at her for a moment, “I don’t think anyone says that.”

“They would be right if they did,” Lee interjected.

Kakashi shrugged one shoulder, “I guess.” He really did not feel up to arguing with 12 year olds about the benefits of yoga.

Lee nudged his sensei, “Gai sensei,” he whispered.

“Oh, yes!” Gai briefly disappeared into the kitchen before returning with a monstrously large bouquet of flowers, tall purple lupins made up the centre but all around them were delicate bright buttercups and what seemed to be hundreds of tiny daisies.

“What are these for?” Kakashi asked, taking the offered flowers; he had to use both hands to hold them.

“Well the kids and I-“

“Mostly Gai!” Lee interjected.

“Have really enjoyed teaming up with you, we wanted to show our appreciation-“

“Gai’s really,” Neji interrupted.

“After all, he is your husband!” Tenten smiled, “I’m sure if you guys were _actually_ married, you’d get gifts like this all the time, that’s just the sort of thoughtful guy our sensei is.” Tenten grinned.

“Um, thanks,” Kakashi said, his voice muffled behind the flowers.

* * *

“I think we need to try a more proactive approach.” Sakura stood with her hands on her hips surveying the room. 

Gai was doing push-ups, Kakashi laying on top of his back reading a well-worn copy of Itcha Itcha. Lee was holding a handstand, and Sasuke and Naruto were staring at each other, a chessboard between them. Sakura narrowed her eyes at this, she knew for a fact neither of them actually knew how to play chess.

“Hmm?” Kakashi asked, not tearing his eyes away from his book as Gai moved him up and down with every push-up.

“We can’t just wait to see who the Council of Five elects, we need to do something!” Neji and Tenten were currently on watch duty but she doubted that they would bring home any new information.

“Like?” Sasuke asked at the same time that Lee performed a perfect front flip, putting himself in an upright position, “You are most right Sakura!”

“We need to campaign!” Sakura declared with urgency,

“We don’t want to be accused of meddling with another village’s affairs,” Lee warned.

“They don’t even know we’re from the Leaf,” Sasuke argued.

“It doesn’t matter that they don’t know we’re from the Leaf,” Lee pointed out, “Just that we aren’t from the Plains.”

Kakashi put down his book and sat upward, this seemed to have no effect on Gai’s momentum as he continued to do push-ups, “There could be subtler ways of campaigning than handing out flyers.” Kakashi said.

“The trick would be to make those we’re influencing believe it’s _their_ idea.”

Sasuke templed his hands under his chin, “First we need to figure out _who_ we need to influence.”

“The Council!” Naruto declared.

“But who exactly on the council…” Sakura trailed off, she grabbed a scroll, “Well there’s Five on the council unless the name is a misdirection.”

“For now, we’ll go with the assumption that there’s five.” Sasuke said, “It’s the best information that we have at current.”

Sakura nodded, writing a 1 to 5 in an acrostic manner down the page, leaving plenty of room to write by each number. The group all turned to face Naruto and Sasuke; Gai having finished his workout.

“Well, we only met four of them.” Sasuke started.

“There was a woman, she seemed like she was going to vote for Hiroto.” Naruto chimed in.

Next to the _1_ , Sakura wrote: _Woman already voting for Hiroto._

“We don’t necessarily want to depend on that,” Kakashi warned, “We don’t know who else is trying to influence people.”

The group nodded.

“Then there was the tall man,” Sasuke said, “He seemed like he was going to vote for Hiroto but didn’t really like either of them.”

Sakura wrote that down.

“The bearded guy was for sure going to vote for Itsuki though,” Naruto added. “The blond man didn’t say which candidate-”

“-if any,”

“-he preferred.”

Sakura wrote _blond man, undecided,_ next to the number _4._ “And then there’s the missing number five.” 

“It will probably be best to focus our efforts on those who appear to be undecided.” Gai said, “We’re lucky that it currently appears to be a two to one vote.”

“Well, we have to figure out _who_ the fifth is before we can begin to try to get them to vote for Hiroto.” Lee pointed out.

Sakura sighed, “We’ve been tailing them all week and we’ve _never_ seen the fifth member.”

“Maybe she’s on holiday!” Naruto piped up, “And that’s why they haven’t voted yet.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, “Why would a member of the council decide the next Kage go on holiday just when a Kage dies, dobe?”

“I’m not a-!“

“Actually, Naruto has a point.” Kakashi interrupted before the fight could erupt.

Naruto and Sasuke turned to Kakashi, both with equally wide eyes.

Kakashi shrugged, “Maybe not a holiday, but gathering information to decide what sort of political climate the next Kage will need to deal with.”

Gai nodded, “If the council was all here, they would surely have voted already, after all a village without a Kage is always vulnerable towards attacks.”

“It sounds like their vote is going to be the most important,” Neji said.

Gai nodded, “And could sway other votes if she brings back significant news.”

“Well, we’re from outside the village!” Sakura piped up, “We could bring news from outside the Plains too.”

* * *

“Oh, it’s just _so_ beautiful here, we are thinking we may stay a bit longer,” Tenten said as she waited for the food stall to finish cooking her skewer, “especially compared to other places…” Tenten trailed off.

“Have you travelled many places?” The man she was talking to was also waiting for his meal, his young son standing at his side watching Tenten with wide eyes as he clung to his father’s leg.

Tenten nodded solemnly, “All around,” she sighed wistfully gazing out into the distance, “It’s sad really.”

“What is?”

“Well, it’s just so lovely here, if other places weren’t so focused on war, I’m sure they would be able to better fund their villages, some places don’t even have enough for their civilians to eat because they are just focusing on having a stronger army.”

The man’s face furrowed, “Oh, that’s awful.”

Tenten nodded again, “It’s a good thing your village is more internally focused.”

A brief flash of worry crossed the man’s face, “Hopefully it stays that way with the new Hokage.”

“Tenten!” a man wrapped in a blue and white striped apron called out, holding a skewer towards her.

“Hopefully,” Tenten said as she departed, skewer in hand.

Once she was a good fifteen metres away, she flashed a thumbs up at a bush, Lee emerged from the shrubbery, his green jumpsuit having offered the perfect colouring.

“Do you know how the others are going?” Tenten asked. They had hatched the plan to help to villagers realised how good things were without war, and how avoiding confronting the Leaf would be beneficial to them without actually saying that and being driven out of town before they could complete their mission.

“Naruto had about ten people he was talking to in the square, he started crying about how terrible things were elsewhere and they just kept coming,” Lee informed her. “I think Sasuke just scared the kid he tried talking to, I’m not sure about the others.”

* * *

Sasuke’s legs stretched out as he ran along the rooftops, flying from one building to the next. Neji ran beside him, their footsteps in unison. Both wore equally grim expressions, their mouths set in tight lines, jaws clenched. They didn’t bother to enter the hotel room through the door, didn’t want to spend the time it would take to knock and wait for the door to be opened, instead, they raced in through the window.

Kakashi was asleep on the couch and Gai was reading, the rest of the genin weren’t here.

“What’s the rush?” Gai asked dropping his book.

“The fifth member is back,” Neji panted out.

“They called a meeting but we couldn’t get into the room without being spotted.”

“Oh,” Gai said. “Well done for getting this information back.” He nodded, “I guess we’ll find out what happened with the rest of the village.” Gai cast a glance at Kakashi, “You should go find the others, let them know.”

* * *

“Where could they even be?” Sasuke huffed, putting his hands on his hips. Neji and Sasuke had spent the last hour walking around the town but had failed to see hide nor hair of the rest of their teams.

Neji shrugged, then bit down on his lips, “You don’t think they’ve been found out, do you?”

Sasuke shook his head vehemently, “I’m sure they would be able to keep out of trouble for a _few_ hours.” Though as he said this, he couldn’t help but think about how many times Naruto managed to find trouble in a matter of _minutes_ let alone _hours._

A man clapped Sasuke on the back and he shot upwards, instantly in a fighting stance. 

“Whoa,” the man held up his hands, “I didn’t mean to frighten you!” 

Sasuke moved his hand from his pocket where it clutched the handle of a kunai, forcing himself to relax.

“I just wanted to ask you guys if you’d heard!” The man’s voice was jubilant.

Sasuke felt the tension return to his body, _heard what?_ That they’d arrested four genin from a rival town? That there was to be a public execution? That they were searching for the rest of their team right now? That was being declared against the Leaf because of it?

“They’ve decided on the new Hokage!”

Sasuke blinked.

“I just remember you saying something about the horrors of war in other villages,” The civilian rubbed at his neck awkwardly, “You were uh a bit intense but I thought you’d be happy to know it’s Hiroto.” The man’s face softened, wrinkles forming by his eyes as he looked at Neji and Sasuke, “I want you guys to know your all welcome in the village as long as you want to stay, you and your adopted siblings, and your dads.”

“Uh, thanks,” Neji said, blinking slowly.

“I think we’re leaving soon,” Sasuke said dryly. Neji elbowed him sharply in the ribs, “But uh, the sentiment is appreciated. And um, I’m glad it’s Hiroto.”

* * *

“God, I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed,” Sakura cast a dejected gaze away from the fire to her strawberry pink sleeping bag that lay a few metres away.

“I can’t wait to get some of Ichiraku’s ramen,” Naruto chimed in, he was practically drooling as he said it, imagining the noodles in the salty broth, pieces of perfectly sizzle pork accenting the dish.

“I want to run around the village loop on my hands!” Lee declared, “I wish to see if I can beat my old time.”

“I will join you on that challenge!” Gai grinned at his pupil, offering an enthusiastic thumbs up from the other side of the fire. He then nudged Kakashi’s shoulder with his own, “What about you, rival? Think you can do it faster?”

Kakashi rolled his uncovered eye, “What’s the score?”

“Two-thousand and twelve to two-thousand and ten, your way.”

“Hmmm,” Kakashi said, because he wasn’t insane, he didn’t regularly run around the village on his hands so Gai would definitely have the advantage in a fair race, but surely, he could find a way to prevent Gai from reaching the target first, “You’re on.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at their sensei’s, after all their scheming the two hadn’t changed at all.

“Are you going to miss your disguises?” Sakura asked, the question was clearly leading. She made eye contact with Tenten and held her hand up imploringly, Tenten grabbed a marshmallow from a nearby bag and threw it at Sakura, she caught it and speared it onto a stick.

Kakashi shrugged, “Sometimes it’s good to have a break from being a ninja,” He ruffled Sakura’s hair affectionately.

Sakura wrinkled her nose and shoved the marshmallow directly into the fire, the pink candy almost immediately alighting. She took the confectionary out of the fire and blew on it until it was no longer in flames before popping the gooey charred mess into her mouth, “And you Gai?” She asked around the marshmallow.

Gai laughed once, “I do not think I would be a good baker, a man asked me about the correct amount of yeast to use on cold days and I could not even tell him what yeast was.”

“She means if you are going to miss being married!” Neji burst out, his eyes widened as if shocked about what he had just said.

There was a beat of silence around the campground.

Kakashi began to chuckle, he nudged Gai with his elbow as Gai threw his head back, peels of laughter booming from him.

“So _that’s_ what you guys have been up to,” Kakashi said between bouts of laughter.

“We were trying to figure out why you guys were acting so weird.”

“Yeah, when _Naruto_ let us go to that dinner alone.” Kakashi turned his head, pressing his face against Gai’s shoulder. Gai wrapped an arm protectively around Kakashi.

“You guys didn’t know we were married?” Gai asked.

A clump of half-chewed marshmallow shot out of Sakura’s mouth, “WHAT!?”

“Four years,” Kakashi said. 

“I-“ Sasuke started, “But you don’t wear rings!” He exclaimed.

“Well, it’s not really a good strategy to let the enemy know about your attachments.” Gai chided.

The group sat staring at the fire for a moment, the flames crackle as they reached towards the sky.

“Oh my god, and you guys are _still so_ weird.”


End file.
